Ex-fugitive denies kidnapping charge

January 20, 2006

LAKE COUNTY — A man who was wanted for 11 years on charges that he kidnapped his two sons was released Thursday from the Lake County Jail on his own recognizance.

Curt Montalbano, 52, pleaded not guilty to two counts of child abduction for taking his sons to Mexico in 1991 a few days after he was divorced from his wife, Carolyn, said Assistant State's Atty. George Strickland. They lived in Mexico for four years before moving to an island off the coast of Honduras. Montalbano returned the children to their mother in 1995 after she hired a private detective, Strickland said. Montalbano's sons are now 22 and 24.

Circuit Judge Fred Foreman released Montalbano but said he must live with his mother in Arlington Heights, surrender his passport and have no contact with his former wife.

A Lake County grand jury indicted Montalbano in 1995. He surrendered to the FBI and sheriff's officers Wednesday after he flew to Chicago from Argentina, where he had been living.